Emma Just LOVES Snacks!

Do you think that Emma looks a bit nervous that she was caught in the act?! :)
Camera or not, those Panera Bagels and Bunny Cookies were too good not to eat! : D
I think that Emma taste tested each one just to make sure that they were the same. ; P Like most toddlers Emma LOVES to snack! We try to help Emma make healthy choices, but she has a mind of her own! She has a terrible sweet tooth (like Mommy) and I am surprised that she still weight just 33 pounds! ; )

We normally do not have a lot of goodies in the house, but last Sunday morning we happened to have both Easter cookies and Panera Bagels on the counter. Greg was upstairs (3rd level) working in his den while Emma was with me in the basement. She asked for a snack and I sent her upstairs alone to "Ask Daddy".

About 5 minutes later I had finished my project in the basement and headed upstairs to find Emma sitting ALONE on a stool at the counter happily gorging on bagels and cookies. She had pulled the stool up all by herself and opened up the Ziploc bags. : ) Obviously she did NOT ask Daddy for help, she was probably worried that he would offer her yogurt or a banana.

Emma Has Been Home Over Two Years!

GOTCHA DAY ANNIVERSARY #2! :)

On Tuesday February 26th we celebrated our two year Gotcha Day with Emma. (Yeah, I know that I am behind on posts...again....). I can't believe that it has been two years already that Emma was placed in our arms, it seems like she has always been our little girl.

Greg and I enjoyed reminiscing about our time in China (we can laugh about certain things now!! ;P) and I think that on a certain level Emma is starting to understand the very special way that we became a family. We did not watch our video this year, but we looked at pictures and told Emma all about the day that we met her for the very first time. In the morning we gave Emma a special gift that her Daddy bought for her in China-a small (& LOUD) monkey drum. She loved it. We had Chinese food from our favorite local Chinese restaurant for dinner that evening.

Below I posted a few pictures from China to show everybody how much Emma has grown! I wanted to include a picture of her on Gotcha Day this year, but I can't find it. (Dang new computer!!!).

Emma's Referral Picture :)
We saw Emma's face for the 1st time on January 4th, 2006....FINALLY!!!!

Gotcha Day!
February 26th, 2006.
Greg and I look obliviously happy~Emma was not sure of us just yet! ; )
Around day 5 Emma began to smile at us. : )
Of course she insisted on staying in her crib!

Greg and I in Beijing a day or two before meeting Emma!

If You're Happy & You Know It!

Picture #1:

Emma is making one of her many expresive faces, she knows that once she pushes the button the duck will break into song. :) On a side note: Emma chose her outfit today-including the hair tie! Picture #2:

Emma is introducing her beloved (& homeless looking) Baby to the duck. It was a 3-way sing along. ; P

Picture #3:

One of Emma's FAVORITE games is to play Ring Around the Rosy. As you can see here she is trying to get Baby and the duck to hold hands. On a side note: Notice that her Baby is wearing a "belt" (from a luggage tag). Emma LOVES belts and insisted that Baby needed one! : )

Picture #4:

I asked Emma if she wanted to smile for the camera and she immediately shouted "CHEESE"!!! :)
After returning home from school today Emma entertained herself for 20 minutes playing with this old duck that we found downstiars in the toy room the other day. You press his wing & he sings "If You're Happy & You Know It" and he dances too. I put fresh batteries in (Yeah I am regretting it already) and Emma announced "Mommy fixed it"! : ) It was nice to be the hero & not the villian for a change! : )

Happy Valentines Day!

~Our Valentine's Day Decorations~


~Emma & Sydney coloring their Valentine's Day Pictures! :)~

~Emma washing her hands after eating her Brownie! ~

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYBODY!


Emma assisted me earlier this week in writing out her valentines for her preschool friends and daycare friends (okay, so she just made a few crayon marks on each card...)! ; ) Last night she accompanied me to the party store to choose decorations too. Today at school they celebrated the holiday by having a "friendship festival" where they shared a communal cereal based snack that everybody contributed to and they exchanged their valentines. It was so cute to see all of the little cards & treats in Emma's backpack! Today Emma's good friend Syndey came to spend the day with us at daycare and the girls have had tons of fun playing together!! : )

CUTE "EMMA-ISM"....
The kids ate brownies for a special Valentine snack this afternoon. I turned my head for a minute to find that Emma had disapperaed from the kitchen table...then I heard water running. She was in the bathroom all by herself washing her hands! : ) She had dragged an empty laundry basket infront of the sink and was standing on it and the vanity was covered in soap splatters and pools of water. However, I just could not be angry at the mess because she looked SO PROUD of herself and SO CUTE too! : ) I praised her for being a big girl and I think that the grin on her face in the photo above speaks volumes. : )

Emma is Doing Great!

Emma decided to brush her horsey's teeth today. Emma is a dental hygiene nut like her Mommy and loves to brush her teeth! : )
(Note the shopping cart on the mantel, it was in time out because Emma was throwing it)!

Emma posing on the stairs with her two beloved companions; "Baby" and "Doggy"!

Emma decided to try and put on our Yorkie Jack's sweater, it turned out to be a bit small! : ) She thought that it was hilarious!

I can not believe that it has taken me over a month to update Emma's blog! We misplaced our camera after Christmas; because I had no pictures to post I did feel inspired to write!



Now we have found our camera so the blog is up and running again! : ) I will try to get back into the routine of posting weekly. Today I am going to limit the blog to posting recent pictures of Emma all taken over the past few days.

Emma is doing GREAT and every day is an adventure with her! She amazes us all of the time with her capability to do so many things. (Read: WHEN she WANTS to do things.... : )....)! Last week Greg and I went to Mexico and Emma spent the week in Michigan with her Lao Lao & Yeh Yeh. She did just fine with out us and had a great time hanging out with her Lao Lao, when Lao Lao asked Emma her teacher's name Emma answered her with out hesitation-if I were to ask Emma the same question she would ignore me. None the less I was proud to hear that Emma knew the answer! : )

Enjoy ! : )

We Officially Announce That Emma is Going to Be a Big Sister!

SOPHIA GRACE
(aka Yangxi Ziye)
Birthdate: 11/19/06
Currently Waiting for Us at Yangxi SWI in Guangdong Provence China

I "found" Sophia's picture posted on ADOPTION ADVOCATES INTERNATIONAL's Waiting Child
web page the morning of November 8th, 2007. I emailed the agency to inquire about the precious little baby sitting in the red chair and they immediately emailed me information about her, I was in love! The first time that I laid eyes on Sophie's picture I felt the same way that I did when I saw Emma's referral picture. It is difficult to put into words; it is simply "Oh there you finally are"! I KNEW that Sophie was MY DAUGHTER the same way that I did when I saw Emma's picture. :) Sophie's referral picture is very similar to Emma's, the moment that I saw the back round I knew that Sophia's SWI had to be in southern Guangdong Provence like Emma's was, and I was right! I was very surprised though to learn that Sophie's SWI is just 30 miles west of Emma's. Emma & Sophie already share a bond in that.



After learning last week that we are officially pre approved by the CCAA to adopt Sophia Grace; we are proud to FINALLY post her referral picture on our blog! We are almost finished putting together our dossier for China and to make a long story short for those not familar with International Adoption Lingo we plan to travel to China to bring Sophie home late summer or early fall. I still can not believe that Emma ("my baby") is going to be a big sister sometime with in the next 9 months! I know that Emma will be an amazing big sister to Sophie, Emma is intrigued by babies & is very loving with her baby dolls....additionally she already appears to have the "big sister bossy trait" thing down pat. : ) We have been explaining to her that the 3 of us will be going to China to bring her new Mei Mei (little sister) home although I don't think that she quite understands. BUT, when I show Emma the picture of Sophie posted above and ask her "Who is this?" she will respond "Baby Soapy!"-so that is a start! : )

Still Christmas??!! ; )

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 EVERYBODY!

Today is Emma's first day back to school after Winter Break meaning that I FINALLY have the time to update her blog. :) We have had a very fun-albeit busy last two weeks. I think that Emma was just as happy as I was to get back on a regular schedule this morning! :)

Greg and I attended Emma's FIRST Holiday Concert at school last month and we had a GREAT time! Since we both work full time we don't get the opportunity to attend every little school function, but there was NO WAY that we were going to miss this one! Of course, being the "new parents" Greg worked the camcorder while I snapped shots with the digital camera. Emma was more into dancing than singing as you can see in the above left picture, Greg observed that she posed a strong resemblance to Stevie Wonder. The above right picture is of Emma with her teachers; Ms. Michelle, Ms. Marilyn and Ms. Susan. Unfortunately, Emma was not in the mood to pose for pictures that morning....the next day she came down with the flu.....so that explained why! Luckily she recovered by Christmastime! :)